<> Prom 61 (1999) <>

Last modified: Sunday, 14 August, 2016
 

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* 7.00pm - Thursday, 2nd September, 1999 - Royal Albert Hall

- Inger Dam-Jensen soprano

- BBC Symphony Orchestra

- Manfred Honeck conductor

* Programme

- Strauss: Til Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
- Strauss: Daphne's first aria & Closing Scene from 'Daphne'
      (Inger Dam-Jensen soprano)

(interval)

- Strauss Family: Waltzes, Polkas, &c.  

  • Johan Strauss II: Waltz 'Voices of Spring'
  • Josef Strauss: Dragonfly Polka
  • Johan Strauss II: Perpetuum mobile
  • Johan Strauss II: Waltz 'Wine, Women and Song'
  • Johan Strauss II: 'Mein Herr Marquis' from 'Die Fledermaus'

    • (Inger Dam-Jensen soprano)
  • Johan Strauss II: Polka 'Auf der Jagd'
  • Johan Strauss II: Polka 'Im Krapfenwald'l'
  • Johan Strauss II: Peasants Polka
  • Johan Strauss I: Waltz 'Hommage to Queeen Victoria'

* Comments

- The BBC Symphony Orchestra led off with a gallop through Til Eulenspiegel. The pace was frantic and resulted in some poor ensemble and a few missed entries as the players seemed to struggle at times to keep up.  Not to my taste, but my wife felt it resulted in a thrilling feeling of teetering on the brink of disaster which it has to be said is not inappropriate to the tone poem's programme.  In any case, everyone seemed to get caught up and back in synch by the execution scene and that and the ending rolled out very stylishly indeed.

- Inger Dam-Jensen has a clear and powerful voice, with no trace of Wagnerian heaviness, and hers was the dominant presence in the two excerpts from Daphne. She treated us to some thoroughly enjoyable singing that held our attention throughout. Very much relegated to a supporting role, the BBC Symphony Orchestra did an excellent job.  Singing and playing combined beautifully to produce some delightful, typically Straussian, textures. Highly satisfying music-making.

- After the interval came the Proms' own miniature version of Vienna's New Year's Day concert.  Great fun was had by all concerned, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the dance tunes a convincing lilt as well as entering into the spirit of the ocasion with some humourous by-play.  Inger Dam-Jensen came back all-too briefly to give us a snippet from Die Fledermaus, and the official programme ended with the rather strange concoction of Strauss père's 'Hommage' (complete with snatches of Rule! Britannia and God Save the Queen).  Of course the audience was quite sure that wasn't the end of the evening and the orchestra obliged with two encores, ending (to absolutely nobody's surprise) with the Radetzky March.

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